"Well, now," magnanimously, "if you'll be in your summer-house at
half-past, I'll bring you some cream blanc-mange. Truly I will!"

The little girl's face beamed with pleasure.

"Will you? Will you _really_? You won't forget?"

"Not me! I'll be there. I'll slip away from our show on the quiet with
it."

"Oh, how _lovely_! I'll be thinking of it every minute. Don't forget.
Good-bye!"

She blew him a kiss and flitted daintily into the house.

William blushed furiously at the blown kiss and descended from his
precarious perch.

He went to the library where his grown-up sister Ethel and his elder
brother Robert were standing on ladders at opposite ends of the room,
engaged in hanging up festoons of ivy and holly across the wall.
There was to be dancing in the library after supper. William's mother
watched them from a safe position on the floor.

[Illustration: "IF YOU'LL BE IN YOUR SUMMER-HOUSE AT HALF-PAST, I'LL
BRING YOU SOME CREAM BLANC-MANGE. TRULY I WILL!" SAID WILLIAM.]

"Look here, mother," began William. "Am I or am I not coming to the
party to-night?"